FitBit Charge Review

I am focused on getting into shape, but in all honesty – it’s been more of a thought rather than action. That all changed this past week when I purchased my husband and myself each a Fitbit Charge. Life changing, people.

First, I should state for the last 22 months my main fitness tracker of choice has been the Garmin Vivofit. I have loved this thing, and I have not ONCE had to charge it. We’ve moved and it was lost in a box and when I found it – I couldn’t believe that it still had battery life. I love the fact that it’s waterproof, but don’t like that it felt like a pain to sync with my phone. It displays the steps, which is great – but when it came down to it – I am a COMPETITIVE person and my sister won’t shut up about her Fitbit. I decided to take the plunge and join the fitbit craze, and OMG I totally get it.

Fitbit offers several options. I wanted a fitness tracker that would show my steps, so went with the Charge. There is a Charge HR option that will show you your heart rate – but did I mention I also wear an Apple Watch? Yes, I look ridiculous – a Fitbit and an Apple Watch – but as much as I love my Apple Watch I like the gaming factor the Fitbit app offers.

Fitbit Charge Review

Here it is, in all it’s glory. As I mentioned, both my husband and I both have the Fitbit Charge. While it comes in many colors, I decided on purchasing the BLACK – since you know that’s just about everything in my wardrobe. Both of our’s are the large band since after reading reviews, several people complained that the small band was way too small. The large band fits fine as long as I snap it tight, it annoys me when it’s lose.

Syncing Your Tracker

If you are new to the Fitbit thing, everything is controlled with the app or your dashboard on Fitbit.com.

Pairing with the App

Pairing with the app is so simple. Just download the app and the app guides you thru the bluetooth syncing process. It will alert you if your tracker needs to be updated. The whole process was painless and took me 5 minutes to update and sync. I was off to the races in no time.

Syncing on a Laptop or Desktop

Your Fitbit will come with a wireless sync dongle. The wireless sync dongle is the small USB device – it comes with all Fitbit trackers except the Ultra and Classic. If you want to sync your tracker’s data to most computers you need the wireless sync dongle inserted and Fitbit Connect software installed, as described in How do I set up my tracker?

Fitbit App

As I mentioned the app is everything (or you can use your computer and dashboard, but this girl is mobile!) It’s free to download and is your control panel for your Fitbit. The app works with any of the Fitbit products. Here are the features you will want to know about:

Silent Alarm

Setup an alarm – or 5, yes I have 5 alarms set – this girl in addition to being mobile, loves her sleep. Plus, silent alarm doesn’t wake up your partner (but at 6:40 am when I am running to get kids out for the bus – I WANT to wake up my partner.)

Challenges

My favorite part about Fitbit is the ability to challenge others to various activities. I’m telling you, gamifying fitness is the way to get your but in gear – especially for us competitive types. You can connect with your friends via Facebook, contacts or just via their email address. I like to keep my competitions to just me and my husband – so I just put in his email address – rather than alerting my friends that I’m available for challenges. Sorry friends, just think that I am doing you a favor because I totally would win. (not.)

Health Dashboard

Track your health within the app. From weight to height, it is all tracked in the app. If you want to get fancy, Fitbit has a scale, Aria Smart Scale that will since with your app and track your BMI.

Food Plan

While not as great as the My Fitness Pal app, the Fitbit Food Plan works just fine. I like having everything in one place, my food, steps and….

Water Consumption

Track how much water you drink via the app as well. Not Fitbit needs to come out with one of those bluetooth water thermos to track wirelessly how much water you are drinking.

Sleep Tracker

I did a sleep test once, the results were that I don’t sleep well at night. Fitbit has confirmed this. While I did get 6 hours and 50 minutes of sleep last night (that is HUGE for me) – I did wake-up 3 times and restless 11 times. Yep, this tracker tracks even your sleep.

Exercise Tracker

You can log your exercise and activity in the app. I love that it gives you a calendar to act as a diary for you to track when you exercised.

Fitbit Charge Battery Life

Charging the Fitbit Charge battery is easy. The tracker comes with a special USB cord that inserts into your fitness tracker. It takes about an hour for the Charge to fully charge.

The battery lasts approximately 7 to 10 days! While it’s not the awesome Garmin Vivofit battery that never seems to die, it’s really not that bad – especially since it’s only an hour charge time.

Cost

I purchased our Fitbits for around $99. I remember seeing this exact tracker at Christmas for cheaper, but here in January when everyone is fitness crazed, $99 seems to be the average price. If you are looking for the Fitbit Charge HR – you are looking at around $140.

Overall

I really do love this device and get why everyone is FITBIT crazy. Making fitness a game really does do the trick, as far as motivation goes. Friendly competition is good for the soul – but I’m not sure if it’s good for my marriage. We spent the last 5 minutes of the day from 11:55 pm – midnight running around the house like mad people, trying to get in more steps. For the record, I won.

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Digital Mom Blog is a digital lifestyle blog based out of Dallas, TX. We talk technology, parenting, and family.